Texas has one of the highest vaccination rates for childhood diseases overall, 97.4%, according to CDC. But the number of children not vaccinated because of their parents’ “personal beliefs”—as opposed to medical reasons—has risen since 2003, when such exemptions were introduced, to more than 44,000 so far in 2017 according to CDC. The 4:3:1:3:3:1:4 series is an overall measure that encompasses many vaccines that are recommended for children. Various demographic factors (sex, gender, race, availability of commercial health insurance) influence the decision to get vaccinated, were looked at.

The county-level data on the socioeconomic factors were obtained from US Census Bureau (American Factfinder). The health insurance data was obtained from Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE). The vaccination rates were obtained from Texas Immunization registry through DSHS. The data was cleaned and geocoded to be analyzed in ArcGIS to produce maps as shown in Figure 1. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between vaccination rates and independent variable. The non-vaccination rates are higher around the major cities of Dallas, Austin-San Antonio, Houston and some northwest Texas counties. Population density has a positive correlation with the non-vaccination rate. Other demographic factors have a positive correlation in certain counties as opposed to others.
Source: American FactFinder, Texas Immunisation RegistryThe limitation on the immunization data is it being an optional registry so it would not be accurate to run statistics off this information to estimate an immunization rate. In future, it is productive to expand this concept to use regression analysis to try to find the odds of the relationship expressed in the maps and to find if there is a significant association.

Hotspot analysis is a way fo finding the geographical areas with high and also low (called the cold spots) distribution of the specific variable. The below map shows the hotspot analysis of the distribution of non- vaccination rates in Texas. It is obvious the high non-vaccination rates are around central Texas which geographically correlates with San Antonio and Austin. The cold spots are interesting that they are more around the counties bordering Mexico.

Hotspot Analysis of Unvaccinated Rates in Texas 2016

The above map was created using data from DSHS Texas based on their report on vaccination among school children. The analysis is usually done to raise the research question around the variable based on its pattern of distribution.

In this map specifically, the area of interest is the cold spots which are the counties bordering Mexico. We expect more people not getting vaccinated because of cultural and socioeconomic factors. Since it is otherwise, it gets interesting to analyze the phenomenon. One more fact to be taken into consideration is maybe the unvaccination rates can be underreported because of a high immigrant population around the counties.

Texas has one of the highest vaccination rates for childhood diseases overall, 97.4%, according to CDC. But the number of children not vaccinated because of their parents’ “personal beliefs”—as opposed to medical reasons—has risen since 2003, when such exemptions were introduced, to more than 44,000 so far in 2017 according to CDC. The 4:3:1:3:3:1:4 series is an overall measure that encompasses many vaccines that are recommended for children. Various demographic factors (sex, gender, race, availability of commercial health insurance) influence the decision to get vaccinated, were looked at.

The county-level data on the socioeconomic factors were obtained from US Census Bureau (American Factfinder). The health insurance data was obtained from Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE). The vaccination rates were obtained from Texas Immunization registry through DSHS. The data was cleaned and geocoded to be analyzed in ArcGIS to produce maps as shown in Figure 1. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between vaccination rates and independent variable.

The non-vaccination rates are higher around the major cities of Dallas, Austin-San Antonio, Houston and some northwest Texas counties. Population density has a positive correlation with the non-vaccination rate. Other demographic factors have a positive correlation in certain counties as opposed to others.

The limitation on the immunization data is it being an optional registry so it would not be accurate to run statistics off this information to estimate an immunization rate. In future, it is productive to expand this concept to use regression analysis to try to find the odds of the relationship expressed in the maps and to find if there is a significant association.

Always wanted to learn GIS but never found an opportunity? You’re in luck! Classes are being offered by by the Wayne County Assessor’s Office and the Wayne County/Richmond Geographic Information System Interlocal in Richmond, IN and Laredo Community College and Del Mar College in Laredo, TX. The separate programs are aimed for the public to learn more about GIS technology.

Richmond, IN area: Read the full article here and check out the site for more details.

Laredo, TX area: Read the full article here and call LCC Continuing Education Department at 956-721-5374 if you are interested.